I have written so many blogs now that I can't remember them all. This one, as with most began with something akin to resolve, hoping to finally make a single repository of the things that I feel moved enough to write about. The reason that this has been a problem for me is that my interests shift like crazy, even though I know that there is a solid thread linking all these things, I am damned if I could pre-empt it enough to make a coherent blog-like body, let alone find a reasonable voice.
I admire many blog keepers, those that write a diary style, with voices so reasonable that you could invite them home, and those who plumb the fast flowing stream of technology to present weird and wonderful novelty. The diarists always seem to be giving generously of their personality and wit, while the diggers appear to be beurocrats, representing the efforts of others. There are many modes of blogging between these poles, the posters of their products who see the web as a shop window, the socialites who regard it as a huge cafe, the outright obscure and the comedians, but as yet I have not found any that resonate with me.
Perhaps, I say to myself, this is a matter of training, those constant voices are essentially writers, the diggers, shopkeepers - whereas my training is all to do with finding an appropriate expression for a given subject or situation. I am happy shifting from film, to print, prose, performance or construction within environments that range from academic to industrial, conceptual, virtual and purely physical. Perhaps I should just get on with it and see what happens. So I will.
If you have written a blog you probably understand the strange impulse to justify yourself in advance. I wonder how many of those paragraphs survive the first year?
Nevertheless it is a strong impulse and one that seems to me to be about confidence and self critique, both things that oddly enough take care of themselves as you go along.
behind the portfolio
